Improvement in steam-engines



J. B. G A WLEY Steam-Engine.

No. 205,366; 51 Patentedlune 25,1878.

IL PETERS. PHOTO-UTHOGRAPNER. WASHINGTOIL'Q C.

To all whom it may concern:

ED STATES? PATENT OFFICE.

.JOHN B. ORAWLEY, on 'BnooK YunEw Yon IMPROVEMENT IN STEAM-ENGINES.

Specification forming partof Letters Patent No. 205,360,}lated June 25,1878; application filed March 16,1878.

Be it known thatI, J OHN B. GRAWLEY, of Brooklyn, in the county of Kingsand State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvementsin Steam Engines, of which the following is a specification Thisinvention relates to certain improvements in steam-engines, its objectbeing to convert the reciprocating motion of an ordinary reciprocatingsteam-engine into a rotary motion without the employment of the ordinarycrank and pitman, whereby the engine is rendered more compact andadapted to a variety of purposes for which the ordinary engine isinapplicable, owing .to the amount of space required for its successful.operation.

My invention consists in an ordinary steamcyl'mder, constructed, asusual, with a valvechest and suitable valves for admitting andexhausting the steam from each end, as usual. The piston rod of saidengine, however, is made hollow, and the shaft or journal to which arotary motion is to be imparted extends through said piston and througha stuffingbox at the rear head of the cylinder.

The front end of the piston-rod extends into a supplementary cylinder,bolted to or forming part of the steam-cylinder, the shaft or journalextending entirely through the same, and to said front end ofthe hollowpiston-rod is swiveled a rotating block,-which is adapted to slide on afeather or in a groove on the shaft or journal. Said block' is providedwith friction-rollers, which are adapted to move in rifle-grooves formedon the inside of the supplementary cylinder, so constructed as to give acontinuous rotary motion in the same direction as the piston-rod isreciprocated to said block, which carries the shaft or journal with it,thus imparting the proper rotary motion to the same.

In the drawings, Figure 1 represents a longitudinal section of myimproved engine, which in the present instance is represented as appliedto a" railroad-car, although it is equally applicable to all otherpurposes for which a steam-engine may be required. Fig. 2 represents abottom view, illustrating the outer portion of the supplementary cylinder broken away, so as to show one of the rifled spiral grooves; Fig. 3,a side elevation, representing the outer portion of thesupplementarycylin- 'der broken away, so as to show the reverselyset spiral grooves,and illustrating the sliding block and reversing mechanism in. section;Fig. 4, a front View of the supplementary cylinder with its headremoved, showing the front face of the block working therein; and Fig 5,detached views of portions of the reversing mechanism forming part ofsaid block. The letter A represents a steam-cylinder, of ordinaryconstruction, and B its piston. 0 represents the valve-chest, providedin the present instance with an oscillating valve, D, which is operatedto throw the ports E E leading to each end of the cylinder alternatelyinto communication with the induction and eduction ports F F by means ofthe puppetvalves G, which are operated alternately by the piston B toadmit steam to-the passages H H leading to opposite sides of the valve.

The letter I represents the piston-rod, which is in the form of a hollowsleeve, through which passes the journal J, to which the rotary motionis to be imparted. Said journal passes also through a stuffingbox, K, onthe rear end of the cylinder, and through a supplementary cylinder, L,hereinafter more fully described, and is journaled at each end in thejournal-boxes of the car.

V The cylinder L is secured to the front head of the cylinder A, or maybe formed as an extension of said cylinder, and is provided on itsoutside with spiral rifle-grooves N N, ex-

tending in opposite directions from end to end thereof.

The hollow piston-rod, at itsextremity, has swiveled to it a block, 0,which surrounds the shaft, and is provided with a groove sitting over afeather on the journal, or with a key sitting in a longitudinal groovein said journal,

in such manner that while said block is free to move longitudinally onsaid journal it cannot move'in a rotary direction without carrying thejournal ,with it. Said block is provided with a projection orfriction-roller, R, which is adapted to travel in the rifle-grooves N N,taking the groove N on the forward movement of the piston and the grooveN on the backward movement, which causes the said block to rotate in acontinuous direction as the piston is reciprocated, giving acorresponding rotary movement to the journal and to the car-wheels T Tmounted thereon. In order to shift the friction-roller from one grooveto the other at the end of each stroke to prevent it from returnin ginthe same groove, cams U are provided, which are operated by levers V Von the outside of the cylinder, which are kept in position by springs WW, by means of which the cams may be thrown from one side to the other;Thus as the roller gets to the end of its rifled way and strikes thiscam, it moves away and allows the roller to pass the spring, instantlydrawing the cam back in its place, forming a surface on one side of thecam to guide the roller until it has passed.

The block is provided with two semicircular recesses, a a, and on theouter face of said block is secured a cam, 12, by means of an annularplate, 0, provided with a groove, 07, to receive said cam b, and securedby bolts or screws to the face of the block. The rear face of said cam,at points opposite the recesses a a, is provided with pins 0 c, whichproject into said recesses, a loose friction-roller, g, being interposedin said recesses between each pair of pins e e.

The outer face of said cam is provided with a tappet, h, which projectsthrough a slot, 5, in the plate 0, the forward end of said tappet beingbeveled on opposite sides to the extremity, forming a V-shaped point tosaid tappet, for the purpose hereinafter described.

In the head of the supplementary recess is formed a curved slot, 7:,across the center of which is arranged a slide, l, having a V-shapedprojection, m, extending inwardly at its lower end. Said slide is underthe control of the engineer and is employed for reversing the engine.Normally it is held in an elevated position, so that the projection mwill not interfere with the tappet h, allowing the block andfriction-roller to travel in a continuous rotary direction. Upondepressing said slide, however, the V-shaped projection m will fall inthe way of the tappet h and hold the block from turning, so that thefriction-roller will return in the same groove in which it took itsvforward movement, and thus reverse the en- 'ine The cam andfriction-rollers, having a slight movement in the circular recesses ofthe block, allow the tappet to oscillate slightly in order to properlyclear the slot in the head of the supplementary cylinder. The rear endof the steam-cylinder is provided with a cap, A, which covers thestuffing-box, and prevents the entrance of dust to the packing, and alsoforms a bearin g against the wheel to keep the engine in place.

The operation of my invention will be readily understood in connectionwith the above description.

Upon admitting steam to the valve-chest the piston is put in motion,reciprocating the piston-rod back and forth upon the journal. Theswiveled block secured to the end of the piston-rod travels back andforth with said rod, the friction-roller taking the proper rifledgrooves at each stroke, which causes said block to rotate. As the saidblock travels on a feather on the journal said journal is rotated withit, making half a rotation on the forward stroke of the piston, and theother half-rotation on the backward stroke.

As thus constructed, a very compact engine is produced, which, onaccount of the little space it requires, is extremely applicable topropulsion of street-cars and other purposes where there is limit-edengine room.

What I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. A steam-engine having a hollow pistonrod, in combination with adriving-shaft extending through said piston-rod and the steamcylinder,the piston-rod being provided with a swiveled block adapted to travellongitudinally on said driving-shaft and journal, said block beingprovided with lugs or projections adapted to travel in reversely-setspiral ways, whereby a rotary motion is imparted to the driving-shaft,substantially as set forth.

2. In combination with the steam-cylinder, its hollow piston-rod, anddriving-shaft extending through the same, the swiveled block adapted totravel longitudinally on said shaft,

and provided with lugs or friction-rollers, and the supplementarycylinder provided with reversely-set spiral grooves, in which said lugsor projections travel, substantially as set forth.

3. In combination with the rota-ting block, the cam mounted on a pin onthe front face of the same, and the tappet connected with alever undercontrol of the driver, arranged to operate said cam on the rotatingblock for the purpose of throwing the projections or rollers into eithergrooves at will for the purpose of reversing the engine, substantiallyas set forth.

4. In combination with the rear head of the steam-cylinder, the capsecured to the same, whereby the access of dust to the packing isprevented and a bearing to support the engine is formed, substantiallyas set forth.

5. In combination with the piston-rod of the engine, the valve-chest,and oscillating valve, the poppet-Valves, operated by the piston toadmit steam alternately to each side of the valve for the purpose ofshifting the same, substantially as set forth.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing I have hereunto set my hand inthe presence of the subscribing witnesses.

JOHN B. ORAWLEY.

Witnesses ROBERT PETERSON, ALEX. GLUBB.

